audioplay - play audio files
audioplay [-iV] [-v vol] [-d dev] [file]...
The audioplay utility copies the named audio files (or the
standard input if no filenames are present) to the audio device. If no input
file is specified and standard input is a tty, the program exits with an
error message.
The input files must contain a valid audio file header. The
encoding information in this header is matched against the capabilities of
the audio device and, if the data formats are incompatible, an error message
is printed and the file is skipped. Compressed ADPCM (G.721) monaural
audio data is automatically uncompressed before playing.
Minor deviations in sampling frequency (that is, less than 1%) are
ordinarily ignored. This allows, for instance, data sampled at 8012 Hz to be
played on an audio device that only supports 8000 Hz. If the -V
option is present, such deviations are flagged with warning messages.
The following options are supported:
-d dev
Device: The dev argument specifies an
alternate audio device to which output should be directed. If the -d
option is not specified, the AUDIODEV environment variable is consulted
(see below). Otherwise, /dev/audio is used as the default audio
device.
-i
Immediate: If the audio device is unavailable
(that is, another process currently has write access), audioplay
ordinarily waits until it can obtain access to the device. When the -i
option is present, audioplay prints an error message and exits
immediately if the device is busy.
-v vol
Volume: The output volume is set to the specified
value before playing begins, and is reset to its previous level when
audioplay exits. The vol argument is an integer value between 0
and 100, inclusive. If this argument is not specified, the output volume
remains at the level most recently set by any process.
-V
Verbose: Prints messages on the standard error
when waiting for access to the audio device or when sample rate deviations are
detected.
-?
Help: Prints a command line usage message.
file
File Specification: Audio files named on the
command line are played sequentially. If no filenames are present, the
standard input stream (if it is not a tty) is played (it, too, must contain an
audio file header). The special filename − can be used to read
the standard input stream instead of a file. If a relative path name is
supplied, the AUDIOPATH environment variable is consulted (see
below).
See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of
audioplay when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte
(2^31 bytes).
AUDIODEV
The full path name of the audio device to write to, if no
-d argument is supplied. If the AUDIODEV variable is not set,
/dev/audio is used.
AUDIOPATH
A colon-separated list of directories in which to search
for audio files whose names are given by relative pathnames. The current
directory (.) can be specified explicitly in the search path. If the
AUDIOPATH variable is not set, only the current directory is
searched.
audioplay currently supports a limited set of audio format
conversions. If the audio file is not in a format supported by the audio
device, it must first be converted. For example, to convert to voice format
on the fly, use the command:
example% audioconvert -f voice myfile | audioplay
The format conversion is not always be able to keep up with the
audio output. If this is the case, you should convert to a temporary file
before playing the data.